My Previous Home Gets an Addition

I have a before and after makeover house addition to show you today. One that I think you will enjoy seeing.

Ed and I did the Before and the buyers who bought our previous home in Pennsylvania did the After to create one amazing outdoor space.

Newer readers to my blog know that this is my house on Lake Murray in South Carolina. We have lived here for 5 years.

But if you are a long term reader you know that for the first 6 years of my blog, the projects and home improvements that I shared with you were done in my previous home in Pennsylvania.

Last week, I got an email from the wife of the couple that bought my previous house. She told me after 5 years in the house that Ed got a check in the mail. She no longer had our SC address and asked for it so she could forward the check to us.

In our email exchange, she attached a few photos telling me that they have done many updates and changes to the house, but just finished the biggest one and thought I would enjoy seeing it.

When I opened the photos I was like… where is this, until I realized the photos were of the backyard of my previous house.

When Ed and I first moved into the house 27 years ago, our daughters were ages 3 and 6. They are now 30 and 33.

We moved to this house in mid-December 1993 during a wicked snowstorm. The following spring, we built a large deck off the back of the family room. That is Ed and I when we were a whole lot younger. :-)

Over the years I re-stained the deck a few times…

…and it served us well for entertaining purposes.

The deck that was going on 27 years old is no longer. Wait until you see what was built in its place.

Hello updated and new!

When I first opened the email with these photos, it took me a few seconds to understand what I was looking at as the view looked so familiar to me, but at the same time it didn’t.

Then it hit me when I saw the pool and the white fence that hides the pool equipment – I was looking at a current image of the backyard of my previous house!

Wow!

What a nice update. I always wanted to cover the deck, but never did as I was afraid it would make the family room in the house too dark.

But …oh how nice to be able to sit outside when it’s raining and now in the weeks ahead as the weather cools sitting outside with a fire that goes on and off with the touch of a button.

Oh yeah… sign me up. :-)

My memories of the backyard and many fun times will always remain the way it looked when we lived in the house – like the day when the high school girls Cross Country team tried to make a World Record to see how many of them could fit into the hot tub (seen in the above photo) connected to the pool. It was 31 girls and I have the photos to prove it. :-)

I enjoyed seeing the photos of such a great addition to a wonderful house in a great neighborhood. It makes me smile to see the house is being updated to fit the life of a new family making their own memories with their two daughters.

Oh…. and the check that was forwarded was for an over payment from a physical therapist Ed went to 6 years ago for his knee. We wonder if they just did an audit on their books and found it.

It was a nice little surprise to get an unexpected refund and to see the updates to a house I called home for 22 years.

Happy weekend – try to live it in your own style.

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